Many consumer products are distributed to stores, and then sold to the end consumer, in multiple product packages enclosed in an outer package or container. These multipack systems are designed to serve a number of purposes. For example, these purposes include, but are not limited to, protection of smaller internal packages during transportation and handling, product promotion, shelf-appeal and shelf-stability at the store, portion control, ease of carrying, ease of opening, ease of storage, and offering end-consumers the ability to organize their shelves. The design and engineering of multipack systems requires balancing conflicting design objectives because aesthetics of design elements may need to be sacrificed for functionality.
Designing multipack systems becomes more complex if the consumer products to be packaged in plurality are not of a uniform shape such as a cube, a sphere, or a cylinder. As an example, the geometry of tapered food cups presents special design challenges for packages. It is standard practice to arrange tapered cups in multiple rows—stacked one on top of the other—within an outer container or carton. This package arrangement must exhibit aesthetic appeal and also provide structural characteristics along with functionality. In transport and storage, the package must provide internal stability to avoid crushing its contents and, also, external stability to support stacking multiple packages. The aesthetics of the package design create an impact when packages are displayed on a store shelf. The package allows consumers to view the contents of packaged cups to trigger an impulse to buy. Another practical benefit of the package is its capability to be used to store the cups at home in an organized manner in the outer package.
Where fruit cups are sold in grocery aisles in competitive markets, minimizing the cost and environmental footprint of the outer package while, also, enhancing stability, shelf-appeal, and storage ease is sought by manufacturers and consumers. Fruit cups are made in transparent plastic so that the fruit inside is visible and appealing to consumers. It allows consumers to see the size, texture, and volume of the fruit and consequently to serve as a driver of sales. Shelf visibility enhances consumer perceptions that the fruit is fresh. However, visualization is defeated when transparent fruit cups containing juicy fruit are put into outer packaging that obscures the view of the product inside.
Merchants and consumers are served well with multipacks. Shelf space at grocery stores and in home refrigerators and pantries is available—but at a premium. Packaging systems for cups promotes multipack stacking without significant concern for loss or injury by tipping. For convenience, packaging systems offer assistance in shelf organization in the refrigerator or pantry and retrieval of packaged cups. The review of the prior art presented in this background shows that there is significant room for improving multipack systems, especially multipacks for cups and other containers.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,164,286 shows a package adapted for enclosing unstacked, side-by-side rows of product-filled tapered cups with the openings of all of the cups configured in one direction. The package includes an essential triangular wedge running between the rows along the bottom of each cup's taper to keep the cups stable within the package without end closures. This configuration has its drawbacks. It requires a large amount of outer packaging material, which not only increases packaging costs, but also is becoming increasingly perceived as wasteful by environmentally conscious consumers. Another drawback is that the cups are barely visible to the consumer when the package is displayed on a store shelf.
In an example, FIG. 1A shows a contemporary and low cost shrink wrap system for packaging cups. Shrink wrap promotes product visibility on the store shelf. However, the drawbacks of using shrink wrap include lower product protection, and, once the shrink wrap is opened at home, the cups have to be individually organized. An additional drawback is exposure of open ends of the package showing non-uniform shrink wrap. This creates a product display that conveys an appearance of low quality, aesthetics, and sophistication.
In another example, FIGS. 1B, 1C, and 1D show other systems for packaging cups. Packaging may be used to secure together tapered cups that are stacked with tops in contact with one another as shown in FIG. 1B. In this configuration, the cups are exposed to abuse during transport and storage and, once the package is torn to retrieve a cup, its life as a storage device is completed. Another example shown in FIG. 1C illustrates tapered cups stacked top down in a horizontal row. The top of the package does not provide a uniform stacking surface. A further example shown in FIG. 1D illustrates tapered cups stacked upright and packed vertically. In the examples of FIGS. 1C and 1D, the packaging must be torn to access the cups, and the integrity of the package is compromised. Another drawback in these examples is the packages' instability on the store shelf.
A further example of a package is shown in FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C. Three different views illustrate a package for tapered fruit cups that has been in commercial use for almost a decade in grocery stores in the United States. The cups are stacked top to top on each other so that the larger diameter tops are positioned in the middle of the package and the tapered bottoms are adjacent to the outer package. Small longitudinal slots are aligned horizontally in the sides of the package and receive the tops of the tapered cups to prevent the cups from sliding out of the package along its opened ends. Another opening is cut into each of the longitudinal sides of the package to provide visual access to the packaged product. In this package, however, less than 20% of each fruit cup is visible through the opening to the consumer while the package is on display. Another drawback of this configuration is its instability on the store shelf. Because the tapered bottom of the cup forms the face on which the outer package stands, these packages topple easily when stacked on grocery store shelves, often creating a mess in the store and loss of product through breakage. Yet another drawback is end user inconvenience. Once the package is taken home by the consumer and opened, the ability to organize and store individual cups contained in an outer package is lost.
The package of FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C is assembled from a unitary piece of paperboard stock. FIGS. 2D and 2E show cut paperboard blanks for similar packaging. These figures illustrate that the package lacks substantial side supports as it simply wraps around the tapered cups and is glued to itself. In addition, as cups are removed from the store shelf by a consumer, the open ends on the side of the package tend to catch on other adjacent packages, dragging them aside, and in some cases causing those packages to topple off the shelf and onto the floor.
In a further configuration, FIG. 3 shows packaging of a yogurt product. The outer package contains 4 cylindrical glass jars of yogurt product stacked vertically in a single row. A main drawback of this package system is the need and the costs for increased strength of holding material of the outer package because the jars are heavy. The package provides less than 20% visibility of the packaged yogurt jars. Further, once the consumer brings the product home and breaks open the package, each jar has to be stored separately because the package is rendered useless for storage.
Outer packages have also been developed to double as storage packs for consumer products. These packages tend to fully enclose products having a more uniform shape, such as cylindrically-shaped soft drink cans. For example, United States Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0078820 shows a carton for holding cylindrical cans. A tear line is provided along the middle of the carton to facilitate splitting the carton along the tear line into two packs for two purposes. The first is to provide convenient storage in a pantry and organization in the refrigerator, and the second is to promote easy retrieval of soft drinks. In this configuration, however, the packages are designed for cylindrical objects, and the cans inside the package are not visible on the store shelf. While product visibility is far less important for soft drinks, it is, however, a very important factor for fresh consumables like fruits and vegetables.
The description of the prior art provided in this disclosure highlights the need for an improved packaging system for arranging product cups, particularly fruit cups, or other containers in a multipack in such a way that (1) the multipacks are structurally stable on the shelf and can be stacked on top of each other; (2) the individual product cups are highly visible through the package to enhance package aesthetics and shelf-appeal to the consumer while concurrently enclosing the tapered cups so that they do not fall out of the outer package; (3) the outer package easily converts into a stable storage pack for organization and product retrieval in a consumer's pantry or refrigerator; (4) the amount of materials used for the outer package, and costs for production, are minimized; and (5) susceptibility to packaging failures is minimized by reducing the number of glue joints.